Rethinking the professional speaker’s one-sheet

Now that so much marketing is digital, the professional speaker’s one-sheet is looking more and more like an anachronism.

It was a time-honoured tool for generations, consisting of a headshot photo, a brief bio and an overview of your area of specialty.

It was a speaker’s key marketing tool. It got the job done.

The traditional one-sheet was designed based on three assumptions: it would be almost exclusively used as a paper-based product, you could reuse that product for a mass audience, and it was an acceptable, unidimensional substitute for introducing yourself personally to someone.

Let’s challenge those assumptions.

So much about the way we market has changed. Today, it’s more relationship-based, far, far less dependent on paper, and people learn a lot more about you faster than ever.

On top of all that, there are tools out there that just everyone has to quickly (and regularly) create a more engaging, personal introduction with your audience.

I’m not saying you should blow-up your one-sheet. Far from it.

The copywriting sales mastery that used to go into that product is as vital as ever. And if you don’t invest in developing a professional product that’s engineered to sell, you’re leaving money on the table.

But you do have to stop thinking about it as a static, single sheet printed on paper.

If you are a professional speaker or presenter, this is still one of your top marketing products. It just has to catch-up with the way people make decisions today. That’s at the root of professional speaker marketing (and it’s why it’s a fast-growing part of our business here at thinkit creative).

Think of your product—your bio, photos, benefits statement, testimonials and areas of specialization—as modules. These are components that you can rearrange and tweak to suit the interests of a specific speaking engagement. Put them all in a folder and generate digital products on the fly. There are pros who can help you with this.

Don’t stop there. Consider shooting a short video and posting it to a special webpage on your site…just for that upcoming speaking event. Link it to you what you send. Integrate what you have to say with your other material on your website, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles (among other sources).